The situtation in Leh settled, the restoration of Kharkoma continues.

2010-08-12

After Balázs and a couple of volunteers left for Leh or Srinagar the team left behind with some new volunteers and the local labor continue the restoration works of Zangla Kharkoma (Zangla Upper Palace) - as the locals call it.

Rebuilding of the Western wall corner continues as we decided to repair its weak base for statical reasons. Almost one third of the wall was in a dilapidated condition. The solid rock base under the wall was sloping which caused the wall to crack and slide apart. On the reinforced, rebuilt base the new wall grows day by day, using the original stone material and the traditional method.

The top level of the Western wall was built of mud-brick. The original slab on top of it collapsed years ago and the wall was in a bad condition. Almost half of the wall is already reconstructed, using the mud-bricks made by volunteers close to the entrance of the Palace.

Almost half of the roof of the Southern block was missing from previous collapses. We continue repairing it. The principle, as with all the restoration is, to keep or reuse as much as possible of the original material in its original position. We only replace the missing or broken elements and make minor alterations if statical reasons require it. We purchased some new beams and taloo wood (willow sticks) placed perpendicular over them from Kashmirian sellers in Padum, after hard bargaining. The roof panels are rebuilt in time with the Western wall.

This week we had another team-building trip. We visited Shila, Bardan and Pipcha on the way to Phuktal, which is another famous place where Csoma stayed. The purpose of the trek was to take a closer look at the old sanctuary of Shila monastery. After the visit we had a great soak in the huge waterfall nearby.

After we returned got the news of the Leh catastrophe. The heavy rain caused a mud-slide that destroyed a number of houses. Hundreds of dead, injured and missing people. All the roads linking Leh to the rest of the world are still blocked. We continue our work even more isolated than usual, trying to rebuild the Eastern block collapsed some decades ago, but the lack of volunteers who either returned home or spend much more time on the road, we have to lower our expectations for the end of this season.